#16,469
Although there is some apparent good news regarding the relative severity of the Omicron variant (see More Reports Suggest Omicron May Be Less Severe Than Delta), its greatly enhanced transmissibility and ability to evade previously acquired immunity are generating the biggest pandemic waves of COVID we've seen to date.
When you add in rising seasonal influenza to the mix (see PAHO: Epidemiological Update - Influenza in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic), high rates of absenteeism due to illness in the healthcare sector - and a growing number of people needing hospital beds - there are genuine reasons to worry over the ability of hospitals to function properly.
Three weeks ago, in More U.S. Hospitals Inch Towards Invoking Crisis Standards of Care, we looked at the rising number of hospitals adopting emergency protocols to deal with overwhelmed ERs, increasing admissions, and growing staff shortages.
We've explored the impact of these protocols often in the past few months (see The Realities Of Crisis Standards Of Care), but in short it can mean hospitals are allowed - under certain dire circumstances - to ration care (including access to ventilators, ICU beds, etc.), invoke DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) protocols (see Standards Of Care During A Pandemic: CPR & Cardiac Arrest), and even turn some patients away.
Ten days ago, in Ohio Governor Mobilizes National Guard To Assist Hospitals Struggling With COVID, we looked at an increasingly common tactic; using military or National Guard troops to keep overburdened hospitals operational.
This week, as new COVID cases have averaged 250,000 a day, and as influenza picks up around the nation (see CDC Urges Flu Vaccination as Flu Activity Picks Up), more hospitals have announced plans to activate crisis standards of care.
A couple of high profile examples from Maryland include:
12/29/2021
Baltimore, Md. (December 29, 2021) – While communities across the country grapple with the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, the pandemic continues to critically stress staffing and resources at hospitals and health care facilities, including the six hospitals within the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS). As a result, today, JHHS and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (JHBMC) leaders announced that JHBMC will implement Crisis Standards of Care (CSC) protocols.
“This decision was not taken lightly,” said Kevin Sowers, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen Johns Hopkins Bayview’s census of patients with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 clinical needs spike dramatically in recent days. Working closely with the Johns Hopkins Medicine Unified Command Center staff, we have agreed that moving to CSC is the right decision.”
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND HARFORD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL DECLARES CRISIS STANDARDS OF CARE
BY WMAR BALTIMORE | DECEMBER 29, 2021
The substantial increase of COVID-19 positive patients over the past month at UM Upper Chesapeake Medical Center (UM UCMC) in Bel Air has forced the hospital to declare Crisis Standards of Care (CSC) protocols as part of its pandemic plan. Effective today, the UM Harford Memorial Hospital (UM HMH) in Havre de Grace will adopt CSC as well.
Even when it isn't making headlines, hospitals, clinics, and EMS services around the country are making daily - sometimes hourly - adjustments to the level of care they can deliver. Increasingly I'm seeing local hospitals go on Volume Bypass here in Central Florida, and EMS response times are rising.
The challenge going into 2022 is keeping emergency services intact amid a blizzard of COVID (and increasingly, flu) cases, and a steep increase in HCW absenteeism.
Although rising COVID and flu cases may be the primary cause of these disruptions, anyone who needs any kind of emergency (or sometimes, elective) medical care will be affected. This is simply a bad time to have a heart attack, a stroke, get in an accident, need elective surgery, dialysis, or even routine medical care from your primary physician.
While you and I can't do much to alleviate the crisis, we can make reasonable choices that can help avoid being part of the problem.
Get vaccinated (against COVID and Flu), stay home when you can, avoid crowds, wear a face mask in public, and avoid any needlessly risky behavior that might put you in need of emergency services in the weeks ahead.
And hope you get lucky.
